How I helped end the Fifth Blight
by gamer072196
Summary: One day I'm walking on the side of the road in Florida, the next I'm being attacked by bandits only to be saved by two Grey Wardens and a witch. Oh, and now I'm an elf. What have I gotten myself into? (revised summary and writing style change from chapter 2 on) Rated T because I like to curse.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N:**_ This is my first SI fanfic. Basically, it's me around thirty years after the fifth Blight retelling how I came to be in Thedas and ended up helping Lyna Mahariel become the Hero of Fereldan. As it is basically me remembering what happened, there will be plenty of times where the story goes off track. And no, I'm not using my real name.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

* * *

So you want to hear about how I helped the Hero of Fereldan end the fifth Blight? I don't see why not. But first, you need to know what's happened since then.

You know Alistair, right? The royal bastard turned templar turned Grey Warden turned king? Well, me and him were old buddies. If you didn't already know, he had his Calling a few months ago. His son, Duncan, is king of Fereldan now. I've known the kid since he was born, which was, what, ten years after the Blight? I'm pretty much the only family that kid's got left. I mean yeah, Lyna, the Hero of Fereldan if you didn't know, is still around, but last I heard from her, she's been having those nightmares Alistair had so her Calling is coming soon. And besides, I have no idea where she is. Between what happened in Amaranthine, hearing that her entire clan had been killed near Kirkwall, and the mage-templar war, she's become a real recluse. I suppose I shouldn't blame her. She made some pretty tough choices during the Blight and made plenty of enemies in the process.

Of course, that means I'm sharing some of those enemies, but I'm pushing fifty now so I've had plenty of time to prepare. No one's gonna get me without a fight. You can bet on it.

Anyway, I guess you should know that I wasn't always an elf. I used to be human, like you. Well, I guess not like you specifically, cause I'm didn't grow up here in Fereldan. Or anywhere in Thedas, for that matter.

Let me explain. I'm originally from a place called Florida and it might sound strange to you, but elves, dwarves, magic, darkspawn, and a lot of the things that are common place here are fantasy there. Why? Because it's in an entirely different world. Technology is much more advanced there, but the amount of ignorance and conflict is about the same, just in a different form. Stuff that usually takes days or weeks to create here, can only take a few hours there because we have machines to do the work. Imagine how much different it was for me to suddenly show up in world were technology was relatively primitive, but everything that was thought to be fantasy existed. Not to mention that I was turned into an elf. That's the part that freaked me out the most.

Anyway, I'm getting off track. I guess I should start with what happened before I showed up in the forest near the Imperial highway, south of where Lothering used to be. I'm sure you've heard that story the bards sing, about me being sent from the Maker himself to help Lyna out. Total bullshit. I wasn't brought here by the Maker, or any kind of god for that matter. The more I think about it, though, the more I think that it might have had something to do with magic, but I don't know for sure. Then again, I gave up on trying to figure it out a long time ago. I'm stuck here. Nothing I can do about it. Besides, I'm not sure I'd even want to go back anyway.

Well, I should get started. I was seventeen and I was walking along one of the roads in Florida. The sky was clear and it was nice out. There was a slight breeze and I had my sweat jacket on. It was green, the kind of green that could help you blend into a forest, with a white C-7 across the chest, which was split by the zipper. I was also wearing a pair of blue jeans and a T-shirt underneath my jacket. I was walking because I had gotten into a big argument with my mom over something stupid, but I forget what it was. It got to the point where we were screaming in each other's faces. That wasn't exactly rare because a few months before that -December I think. I'm trying to remember- we had gotten into an argument about one thing and, somehow, it had gotten around to being about my grades in school. That night, I had decided that I had had enough of her shit, and that's when I started screaming back at her. The thing is, I went outside for a walk so I could vent and was out there for about an hour -I snuck out so she had no idea I had left- and when I got back in the house, she didn't even bat an eyelash. I guess she never realized that I was gone.

Damn it. Off track again. I don't want to bore you with my past with my mom. Basically, she yelled at me for pretty much everything, and I hated her for it. Hell, my dad only stuck around because of me and my little sister. He thought she was a bitch. They had been broken up for years- I guess I should have mentioned that earlier. I eventually started thinking the same thing, my sister following suit. I couldn't wait to graduate so I could get out of the house. I was a senior in high school, which meant I only had a few months to go.

Ok, back to the story. I was walking along and I had about five dollars in my pocket, so I decided to grab myself something to drink and snack on. I walked into a 7-11 and grabbed a bottle of coke and a Milky Way bar -that was my favorite thing to eat back then. I walked out of the store and continued walking down the road until I hit the highway. I stuck to the shoulder -I knew better than to walk in the middle of the road- and ate my Milky Way bar. A couple minutes later, I finished the thing and threw out the wrapper in the closest dumpster. After that, I kept walking. For some reason, the highway had been clear for too long to be a normal break in traffic, then again, it was Sunday and it was around noon, so I thought nothing of it. That's when I heard something that sounded like thunder come out of nowhere.

Now, the news said that it wasn't supposed to rain that day, but they were wrong half the time. I looked up at the sky in every direction, but I didn't see a single cloud. Not one. I looked around me and saw nothing but the trees that lined the highway. That's when I blacked out.

Before then, I had only blacked out two or three times in my whole life. Once when I crashed my quad, and twice when I had pneumonia, but I was also dehydrated so that didn't help.

When I woke up, my head was ringing. It took me a bit before I finally opened my eyes and saw that I was in the middle of a forest, near the Imperial highway, but I had no idea what it was at the time. There was a chill in the air that reminded me of when I lived in New Jersey -which was way up north from Florida. I was thirsty as hell too, so I decided to drink some of my soda, which was still in my jacket pocket.

I had no idea where I was so I decided to try and stick to the road, which looked like a stone wall from where I was standing. Eventually, I found a ramp that let me get up to the road -I had already finished my soda by then and dropped the bottle somewhere along the way, cause I couldn't find any dumpsters-, which I was pretty grateful for, because I had started to hear wolves howling and I wanted to get out of the woods. I kept walking -maybe for a half hour or so?- before I came to a group of guys who were blocking the ramp off the road. They were all dressed in armor and had either swords, daggers, shields, or arrows strapped to their backs. I thought I had stumbled across some kind of medieval fair or something, but the thought disappeared quickly when I saw a pool of dried blood behind them.

The thing is, I could hold my own in a fist fight, but I didn't have any weapons on me. I never needed them before then. I looked at the guy closest to me, who I guessed was the leader, and he looked at me before saying, "Greetings traveler! Say, isn't it kind of dangerous for an elf like yourself to be traveling alone?"

Now, I wasn't exactly tall, but I wasn't short either. And yeah, I was skinny, but no one had ever called me an elf before. The comment was so random that I kind of ignored it. I saw the rest of the guys behind him looking at my clothes like they had never seen anything like them before. I looked at the leader and said, "Who are you?"

"Me? I'm a simple toll man." I didn't believe the guy for a second, but I decided to play along. Figured that it was the safest way to go.

"Toll man? Well, how much is the toll?"

"A simple ten silvers and you're on your way."

I had no idea what he was talking about. I mean, I had some change left over from buying my soda and Milky Way bar, but somehow I knew he didn't mean that. "I don't have any silvers," I told him, shrugging.

"Are you sure? We have rules, you know."

That's when the guy behind and to the right of him spoke up. "Right. We get to ransack your corpse then. Those are the rules." It was pretty obvious that he wasn't all that smart, the way he just blurted that out.

I didn't even bother responding. I turned around and bolted. I was fast, but I knew I couldn't outrun them for long because I had pretty much no stamina back then.

I heard an arrow zip past my head before another hit me in the side, which threw me to the ground. It happened so fast that I cursed out loud. When I looked down at it, the point was sticking out of my side, the rest of the arrow going through. I didn't even bother trying to check if I was bleeding cause I already knew I was. I got up and started running again. The pain started going away as my adrenaline kicked in, but I still felt my blood running down my side.

I still don't know how, but somehow I knew an arrow was heading for my head. I ducked and it flew by, the feathers brushing my hair. I just kept running. Eventually, I saw two women, a man, and some type of dog up ahead.

That was when I first saw Lyna, Morrigan, and Alistair. You probably heard that I was fighting off dozens of bandits when they showed up, but that's not true. One: as I said, I had no weapons. Two: there was only about a dozen guys chasing after me. And three: I was running for my life.

I didn't even bother trying to yell for help. I kept running and zipped right past them. That's when I heard the dog barking, followed by the clanging of blades hitting each other.

I kept running. I don't know how long I ran for, but after a little while, I ended up face first on the ground. When I rolled over, I saw the face of the dog right in front of me. I froze in fear. I thought that the dog was going to bite my face off. That's when he licked me and started panting.

I couldn't help but laugh. I had a dog and he was a playful guy. Always tried to lick your face and always wanted to say hi to everyone. Damn it, I miss him.

Then I heard footsteps running over to me before I heard, "Elgar'nan. Get off him." That was Lyna. She named the hound after a Dalish god after she helped cure him at Ostagar. At least, that's what she told me.

The hound did as he was told and got off me. As I tried to get up, my whole side erupted with pain from the arrow. I started feeling real weak, probably because I lost quite a bit of blood.

Before I could say anything, Lyna and Alistair propped me against a wall. Alistair broke the feathered end of the thing and pulled it the rest of the way through.

It hurt so much that I damn near passed out. Then Alistair lifted up my jacket and shirt before Lyna told Morrigan to heal me. I wasn't really paying attention to much beside the amount of blood on my side which soaked into my jeans. That's when I saw my skin pretty much stitch itself up. The bleeding stopped immediately and the only evidence that I had been hit with an arrow was all the blood that covered my side.

I checked the area where I had been hit and it was perfectly healed. My back too. The first thing I said after that was, "What the hell? How'd you do that?"

I looked to Morrigan, who gave me an incredulous look, almost like I should have known what she just did.

"What do you mean?" I heard Alistair say. I jerked my head toward him and he just looked confused.

"Huh?" was all I could say.

"What do you mean?" he repeated.

"How'd she do that?"

"Magic," was the answer I got.

That surprised the hell outta me. "No, seriously. How'd she do it?"

That was when they all looked at me like I was an alien or something. Then Morrigan summoned some lighting from her hands, the bolts jumping off her fingertips. "What the hell?" I said again, pushing myself against the wall.

"Who are you?" Lyna asked. That got my attention real quick.

"You first." I wasn't sure if I could trust them.

"I'm Lyna. That's Alistair and that's Morrigan." She gestured to both of them and my eyes followed where she was pointing. Then her hound wormed his way through them and nudged Lyna with his head. He seemed like a real smart dog. Too smart to be a regular dog.

"Oh. And this is Elgar'nan." She patted the dog's head and he panted happily before licking me again. I couldn't help but pet his head. I'm real good with dogs. "I guess he likes you," she said. I saw her smile and heard her low chuckle.

Since Lyna had introduced me to everyone, I decided that I might as well tell her my name. "I'm Jason," I told her.

"Well, Jason, I'm glad we were able to save your life back there."

"Why are you alone?" Alistair asked. "Don't you know it's dangerous for elves to travel alone?"

Now, I'm not sure why I didn't notice it before, but I glanced at Lyna and saw that her ears extended to a point. That's when I felt my own ears. They came to a point too.

"What the hell?" I said for the third time that day.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N:**_ I've decided to change writing styles. From now on, the story will be in first person without being a series of distant flashbacks. It got real annoying and frustrating to type that way.

Anyway, enjoy!

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"You say that a lot, don't you?" Alistair said. I heard him chuckle to himself.

I gave him a look that I would give my sister sometimes when she said something that I thought was stupid. "Just today," I replied. I was still feeling my ears. The shape freaked me out and fascinated me at the same time.

"Do you always mess with your ears like that?" Lyna asked.

"They aren't supposed to be pointed," I said before I could stop myself.

She just gave me a look that said that she had no idea what I meant.

"Never mind." I decided to change the subject. "Where am I?"

"You **were** near Lothering before you ran past us," Alistair said. It sounded like he thought it was funny. _Huh?_

"Lothering? I've never heard of that place."

Alistair just shrugged. "Neither did I before I had to go to Ostagar."

I raised an eyebrow, but I quickly went back to my usual blank expression. I didn't feel like asking a ton of questions.

"Were you with the king's army?" he asked. "I don't remember seeing you."

I shook my head. "I'm not from around here."

"We could take you back to wherever you're from," Lyna suggested.

_ I doubt they even know what Florida is…_ "Uh… I don't really have anywhere to go."

"Well, I hope you find somewhere to stay for the time being," Alistair said. They helped me up and started heading back to Lothering. I didn't know what to do or where to go. _I guess the best thing I can do is stick with the guys who saved my ass._

"Wait!" I called out to them. They stopped and turned around as I caught up to them. "Can I come with you?"

Lyna and Alistair looked at each and Morrigan just rolled her eyes while I stood there, trying not to look desperate or anything. Lyna looked back at me and said, "Are you sure? What we're doing is pretty dangerous."

_ Dangerous? Shit. Well, safety in numbers, right?_ I looked back at her with the most serious look I had ever given anyone. "I'm sure. Besides, I don't really know what else to do."

Alistair raised an eyebrow before he asked, "Can you fight?"

"Hand-to-hand, yeah. I've never used a sword before, if that's what you're asking."

Lyna and Alistair looked at each other again before Lyna said, "Well, you're fast. Maybe we can train you. Just some basics to defend yourself."

Again, Morrigan rolled her eyes. _What the hell's her problem?_ "Sure," I said.

They turned around and we headed toward Lothering. After a few minutes later, we ran into the bodies of the guys who were chasing me earlier. They were all dead, some with arrows embedded in them, others with slashes and cuts or bite marks. Some others were either burned or frozen. It didn't really bother me. _I mean, they were trying to kill __**me**__. I guess they had it coming._

"Who were these guys?" I asked. I didn't really care, but I was curious nonetheless.

"Highwaymen," Alistair answered. I recognized the term from my seventh grade social studies class.

"So they were bandits. Good thing I didn't trust them."

"Good instincts," Lyna commented. "Looks like you'll fit in just fine." I noticed the corner of her mouth rise, indicating that she was smiling.

We kept walking. We eventually got to the village and I looked around. I heard Lyna, Alistair, and Morrigan talking, but I didn't pay attention. I was focusing on everything around me. There where people talking quietly and an air of despair. It gave me goose bumps. Then, it started to feel like my hearing was much better than it had ever been. And so did my vision, but only by a little bit. I had always had great vision.

Elgar'nan walked up to me and nudged my leg, getting my attention. He gave a low whine, obviously wanting attention. I started to pet him on the head and he seemed to like it, panting happily.

"What do you think, Jason?" Lyna asked.

"Huh?" I replied, turning around.

"What do you think?" she repeated.

"About what?"

"Weren't you listening?" Alistair asked.

"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. What were you talking about?"

"We're trying to figure out where to go," Lyna explained.

"You don't know where to go?"

"Me and Alistair are the last two Grey Wardens in Fereldan. We need to get support to fight the darkspawn." _Grey Wardens? Darkspawn? What is she talking about?_ "We're trying to decide who to go to first: arl Eamon at Redcliffe, the dwarves of Orzammar, the Circle of Magi, or the Brecillian forest to find one of my people's clans. Morrigan thinks we should go after Loghain before we do anything."

"Why?" I blurted out.

"He betrayed the king at Ostagar," Alistair started. "He left the king, his men, and the rest of the Grey Wardens to be killed by the darkspawn." It looked like he was pretty pissed about it.

"Who exactly is Loghain?"

Lyna and Alistair looked at each other again. I noticed that they never really said much to Morrigan. They looked back to me and Alistair asked, "Where are you from, exactly?"

_ Shit._ I wasn't really sure how to answer him. _Far away? __**Really**__ far away?_ "Nowhere nearby." I said it with a straight face. I always was a good liar.

"Where? The Free Marches?"

_ I guess I'll go with that._ "Yeah." I still had a straight face.

The answer seemed to satisfy him. "Well, Loghain was a hero from the war with Orlais. You've heard about that, right?" I nodded, despite the fact that I had no idea what he was talking about. "He was the one who planned out the battle against the darkspawn at Ostagar. Now he is claiming the Grey Warden's killed the king and he's outlawed us. There's a bounty on our heads."

"A bounty?" _I wonder if I could… no. No, they saved my life. Anyway, they'd probably kill me before I blink. I'm not about to die for money._ "He knows you two escaped?"

"I don't know. There's a bounty on any surviving Wardens in Fereldan. That's one of the reasons why things are so dangerous for us."

"Oh." I thought about it. I had no idea where to go or what they were talking about. "I think we should look around Lothering first. See if we can find anyone who wants to help."

"Good idea," Lyna said. She nodded and started walking further ahead, Alistair, Morrigan, and Elgar'nan following behind. I was ahead of Alistair and behind Lyna, Elgar'nan catching up to her. I saw her glance back at me and she motioned for me to walk next to her. I sped up my pace until I was next to her before she said, "Elgar'nan seems to have taken a shine to you." The hound panted happily as he walked next to her.

I half-shrugged. "I'm good with dogs. I've had a few."

She raised an eyebrow. "'A few?' What happened to them?"

"They died or were given away. Still had one when I… left."

"How did your dogs die?"

_ Why is she so curious about this?_ "Old age. Granted, most dogs only live to around thirteen."

"Oh."

We kept walking, eventually coming to a board with a man standing next to it, a young boy next to him. The man was dressed in some type of robe and was preaching something. I knew preaching when I heard it. _Please don't be a Catholic priest._ I chuckled to myself at that joke, despite the fact that it was in my head.

I walked up to him as Lyna went with Alistair over to a small group of people who surrounded a man with a wagon behind him. One of the people in the crowd wore the same robes the man by the board wore.

When I got to the guy by the board, he said something that sounded like a greeting a priest would say, but I couldn't tell which religion he belonged to.

"Huh?" I said.

"He can't answer you," the boy next to him started. "He's Chanter Devons."

"What's a Chanter?"

"One of thems that are only allowed to say the Chant of Light. The board next to him has a list of good deeds to be doing. My father thatched Widow Alison's roof once and the Chanter paid him, he did."

"A learned child is a blessing unto his parents," the Chanter said.

_ The Chant of Light? Definitely a religion of some sort._ "Is he stupid or something?" I asked. I only said that to see what reaction I'd get from the Chanter, which was nothing.

The boy laughed. "No, he's a Chanter."

"So it's like a vow of silence? He can't say anything?"

"Unless it's the Chant of Light, no."

The Chanter preached another verse. _Let's see if I can get him to say anything…_

"A Chanter says, 'what.'" I said it so fast that the Chanter wouldn't be able to process it right away.

"What?" the Chanter said. I immediately doubled-over laughing my ass off.

"Oh, you got him to speak!" the boy said. "Ha!"

"Er… What hath man's sin wrought?" the Chanter said, trying to cover up his mistake.

"Oh! He cheated!"

I was still laughing. I laughed so hard that my eyes started tearing.

"What are you doing?" I heard Lyna say from behind me.

It was hard for me to explain while I was still laughing, but I said, "Nothing… Just… messing with… this Chanter!" I heard Alistair chuckle loudly, almost like he was trying not to laugh too.

After a couple minutes, I eventually calmed down. "Damn. It's been a while since I've laughed that hard," I said. My sides were aching.

I saw Morrigan roll her eyes as she started following Lyna toward the tavern. Alistair and I walked side-by-side with Elgar'nan in front of us. Then Alistair said, "You know, I grew up in a Chantry."

"You did?" I asked. He nodded. "What was it like?"

"Boring for the most part. Sometimes it would get so quiet that I would start screaming until one of the brothers came running. I would tell them I was just checking, you know?"

I started laughing. "Damn it! My sides already hurt enough as it is! You're just making it worse!"

Then he started laughing. "At least you have a sense of humor! So far it was just me!" It took a bit, but we both calmed down before we got to the tavern. Then Alistair said, "I think we're going to get along great."

"Same here," I agreed. _Funny how I've already made a friend in just a couple hours._

We got into the tavern and a few guys in silver armor confronted Lyna, causing us all to stop just inside the door. I knew that some type of fight was going to start, so I got ready to get out of the way.

"Hey," one man said, looking at Lyna suspiciously. "Didn't we go around the village this morning, asking for an elf by this very description and everyone said they hadn't seen any?"

"Looks like we where lied to," said another.

"Gentlemen, please," started a woman off to the left. She wore the same robes as the Chanter and had short red hair, a braid on one side. I noticed a dagger on her back. "No doubt these are simply more poor souls seeking refuge."

"They're more than that. They're Grey Wardens. Loghain has put a bounty on all Grey Wardens for betraying the king at Ostagar."

"It was Loghain who betrayed Cailan, not the Wardens," I heard Lyna say.

"I was there! The teryn pulled us from a trap set by the Wardens to kill the king!"

_ Idiot. He's too loyal to that asshole to actually use any common sense._

"The Warden's would never do that," Lyna said. She seemed really calm.

"That's it!" The guys in armor pulled out their weapons, Lyna, Morrigan, Alistair, and the red-haired woman doing the same. I got out of the way, ducking behind a nearby table as they fought. If I had a weapon of some sort to use, I would've tried to help.

After a few minutes of fighting, I heard one of the soldiers shout, "Enough! We surrender!" I stood up to see that several of the guys in armor were dead, the one who seemed to be the leader held at arrow-point by Lyna. I saw everyone put their weapons away as I walked over to Alistair before I heard the red-haired woman say, "Good. They've learned their lesson and we can all stop fighting now."

"Take a message to Loghain," Lyna ordered, glaring at the man.

"W-what do you want me to tell him?" the man asked, somewhat confused.

"Tell him that he won't get away with this. We're coming for him."

"Alright. I'll tell him right away!"

"Go." She stepped to the side and the guys that were still alive left the tavern.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't just stand by and do nothing," the red-haired woman said.

"Who are you?" Lyna asked. She seemed more curious than anything.

"I am Leliana, a lay sister of the Chantry here in Lothering. Or, at least I used to be."

"I have a feeling that this is going to be a long talk," Alistair whispered to me. "Let's get you some different clothes so you don't stick out as much."

I looked down at my clothes. "Yeah, the blood stain is a little hard to miss," I whispered back.

"It's your whole outfit. You stick out more than a human in Orzammar."

I looked around saw that everyone else was wearing shirts and pants which were various shades of brown, making me stick out in my green blood-stained jacket and blood-stained jeans. I looked back to Alistair and nodded, following him out of the tavern after he told Lyna where we were going.


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N:**_ Time for some combat.

Enjoy!

* * *

We walked out of the tailor's shop and I was dressed in a brown shirt- or tunic, as Alistair called it- and brown pants. I ended up trading the tailor my jeans and t-shirt for the clothes I got, which he also gave me some money for. He also wanted my jacket, but I told him I planned on keeping it. I figured that I could use it when it started getting colder. I also didn't want to get rid of it because I was pretty attached to it. I had had it for years and I didn't plan on getting rid of it. Alistair told me to put it in his pack for the time being, considering how I wouldn't need it, and I did.

The clothes I had on now were a little uncomfortable, though I assumed it was mostly because I had never worn anything like them before. Or because they were relatively new. Could have been one or the other.

We headed back to the tavern and saw Lyna and Morrigan walk out, the red-haired woman- Leliana- in tow. It looked like Leliana was in some type of armor with a bow on her back. I recognized the material as being a type of leather.

Lyna motioned for us to follow and we did, heading out of the village. We passed some people who were arguing, only for a guard to step in to yell at them to stop. I looked to the left and saw a cage, someone inside of it. We walked up to the cage and I looked at the man inside.

He was tall- I estimated around seven feet tall- with bronze skin and white hair organized into cornrows. At first I thought he was one of those people who had gigantism, but when I noticed his muscular build, I decided that was unlikely. He seemed to be… praying, though I didn't recognize the language at all.

He finished and looked up at Lyna- or maybe looked down is a better way to describe it, considering how she was already the shortest in the group. "I have nothing to say that would amuse an elf," he said. "Leave me be."

"What are you?" I asked. _Maybe I should have reworded the question._

"He's a Qunari," Alistair explained. "You know, those giants that live up north and have been at war with the Tevinter Imperium for centuries?"

"Oh." _Not human then._

"Who are you?" Lyna asked. She seemed fascinated.

"I am Sten of the Beresaad- the Vanguard of the Qunari people." _Vanguard? Does that mean he's part of the first wave of an invasion force? Was he captured or something?_

"What's a Qunari doing here?"

"I was sent with my brothers to answer a question."

"Did you find the answer?" I asked. I mentally slapped myself. _Why did I ask that?_

"A portion of it."

"Why are you in that cage?" Lyna asked.

"I caged myself." _Wait, what?_

"This is a strong, fierce creature," Morrigan finally said. "If we do not need him, I suggest we free him for mercy's sake alone."

"Mercy?" Alistair echoed. "I never would have expected you to talk about mercy."

"I also suggest Alistair and Jason take his place in the cage."

"Now **that's** what I would have expected." _I guess she doesn't like either of us._

"Thanks, but no thanks," I replied. "I really like being able to stretch my legs if you don't mind." I saw Morrigan roll her eyes. _I'm gonna have fun messing with her._ I turned to Lyna. "I think we should get him to help us. He's obviously a soldier of some type."

Lyna nodded and turned back to Sten, saying, "Do you want to help?"

"What is your task?" Sten asked bluntly.

"We are fighting the darkspawn, and we need help."

"Darkspawn? You are a Grey Warden then? Interesting…"

"What's interesting?"

"I have heard tales of the Grey Wardens. Peerless warriors and brilliant tacticians." _So the Grey Wardens are like a medieval spec ops force? That's pretty awesome._ "I suppose not every legend is true."

"I'm tougher than I look."

"We shall see."

"So are you going to help?" I asked. I wanted to speed the conversation along.

"I will. But the Revered Mother locked the cage. She rarely parts with the key."

"Do we have to go and get the key?" I turned to Lyna. "Can't you just, pick the lock or something?"

"The Revered Mother would not approve," I heard Leliana say. It sounded like she had a French accent or something.

I looked at her. "And I wouldn't like it if someone locked me in a cage. Besides, don't we need help?"

"Then why are you here?" Morrigan asked, pointedly. I turned to her. "You said you never used a sword before, yet you expect us to let you follow?" _Shit._

"I guess it was a good thing I didn't ask **you** if I could stick with you guys. If I knew you were going to be such a bitch, I would have thought twice about it." _Shit. Maybe I shouldn't have said that._

"Stop arguing," Lyna ordered. I was relieved that she stepped in. We both shut up and turned toward Lyna, Morrigan rolling her eyes yet again. _If she was a guy I probably would've swung a punch. Bitch._

I saw Lyna pull a couple of metal tools from her boot and insert them into the keyhole. After a minute, I heard a 'clink' as the cage unlocked, allowing Lyna to open the cage. Sten walked out and nodded to Lyna in thanks before saying, "If I am to follow, what shall I call you?"

"Lyna," she replied. She then introduced the rest of us before asking Sten what kind of armor and weapon he preferred. He told her heavy armor and a greatsword, and, somehow, she managed to pull both out of her pack. He slipped into the armor- somehow it fit him- and sheathed the greatsword on his back.

We turned around and started walking, only to be stopped by a large group of villagers. Some of them had weapons, but none of them had armor. I looked around and didn't see anywhere that I could take cover before someone could get to me.

"Stop," said one of them. He seemed to be the leader. "I don't know if the Wardens betrayed the king, and Maker forgive me, I don't care. But that bounty on your head could feed a lot of hungry bellies."

"You realize you're playing with fire, right?" I asked. I honestly thought that either they were too stupid to know better, or too desperate to care.

"Attack!" I heard everyone unsheathe their weapons and I tried to stay out of the fight as much as I could. Unfortunately, one of the villagers- a guy with a mace- saw me and came running. He probably thought I was an easy target. _The hell I am._

I brought my hands up to the sides of my face and balled them into fists, staggering my feet so that it would be easier for me to keep my balance. I had fought a couple of people before, so I knew the best stance for me to use. He came after me and stopped before he swung high. I ducked below the swing and followed up with a right hook to the jaw. I felt the shock of the impact go through my arm, but I didn't feel my fist connect.

He stumbled to the side and I grabbed the shaft of his mace. I tried to pull it out of his hand, but he wouldn't let go. So I grabbed his forearm and yanked down with both hands as I raised my leg, hitting his hand on my knee hard. He let go, so I grabbed the handle and spun around, swinging at his head hard. The next thing I know, the guy was on the ground, blood on the side of his head where I hit him.

"Holy shit," I said. "Did I just…?" I visualized the damage I had done to his skull. I knew that I had cracked the man's skull, but I wasn't sure if I had killed him. No doubt he had a depressed skull fracture, which meant that if he was alive, he'd wake up in a while with a splitting headache, walk home to get his head bandaged up, and eventually, he'd drop dead from internal bleeding in his skull. A depressed skull fracture was always fatal if it wasn't treated, and I had a feeling it wouldn't be treated at all. _I should check his pulse. If he's still alive, I should… finish him._

I crouched and placed two of my fingers on his neck, below where his jaw connected to his skull, and felt nothing. _No pulse. Damn it._ I felt around his throat and still felt no pulse. _Shit._

I stood up and looked around. The rest of the villagers were either dead, or had run away. I looked down at the mace that was in my hand, blood on it from the man I just killed.

"I thought you didn't know how to fight," Alistair said, sheathing his sword and strapping his shield on his back as he walked over to me.

I looked up at him. "I said I never used a sword before," I replied. "Or any weapon, really."

"Could've fooled me."

I shrugged. "I've never actually killed anyone before."

"Really? You seem very calm."

_ I know I do. _"Death doesn't really bother me, as long as I'm not on the receiving end."

"Have you seen a lot of death?"

I shook my head. "I mean, I've had family die, but they were distant relatives so I didn't see them much."

"Huh. That's weird."

I shrugged again. "I'm not exactly 'normal.' Then again, who is?"

"Ha! I'll give you that!"

I noticed Lyna walk up to me and I turned my head to look at her. "I guess you won't need that much training," she said, smiling. Then she pulled out several weapons from her bag: a longsword, an axe, two different types of daggers, and a small round shield. "Take your pick."

I looked at the weapons as she placed them on the ground, focusing on the second dagger she grabbed. It was curved and had very elegant designs on the handle. "What kind of dagger is that?" I asked, pointing at the blade.

"It's a Dar'Misu. My people make these for our hunters."

"Were you a hunter?"

I noticed her freeze, but I didn't know why. "Yes," she finally said. "The best in my clan."

"Why did you leave?"

"That's a long story. Short story: I was recruited. A Grey Warden can't go back to their old life."

I raised an eyebrow, but I lowered it right away. I didn't feel like asking a ton of questions when I was supposed to pick some weapons for myself.

I scanned the weapons. First I looked at the axe. I could use it to chop off limbs, though the longsword and daggers could do the same. It could be used to pry away someone's shield if I used it right, but the area that was supposed to be used for chopping and slicing was limited, and wouldn't help against chainmail armor, which you had to thrust to pierce.

Then I looked at the longsword. A jack-of-all-trades type weapon. It could be used for slicing, chopping, and thrusting, though the daggers could be used for all of that too. Long, so it wasn't the easiest to maneuver, but it was double-edged, so I could slash with both ends. Most soldiers would be using it, as it was the cheapest to make and easiest to handle.

Then I looked at the daggers. Short, so they were best suited to thrusting rather than chopping or slicing. They would be easier to maneuver than the longsword, faster too. Then again, I'd have to get pretty close to whoever I was fighting. It might be worth it, though, considering how much easier it would be to lodge one between the joints of anyone who was armored like Sten was.

I looked down at the mace in my hand. A blunt weapon, used for sheer brute force. No way I was getting through any armor with that. It might cause internal injuries and bruising, but I'd need strength I didn't have to do any real damage to someone who was heavily armored.

I looked over at the shield. Small, so it was easy to maneuver, though it had little real protection. Besides, if I had a shield, enemies were more likely to come after me, and I'm not the type who wants to take punishment. If it was bigger, maybe, though I'd probably need to get stronger before I could block blows.

I had decided: no to the shield, no to the mace, maybe for the axe, yes for the Dar'Misu dagger, and yes for the longsword, though I might trade that for the other dagger if I don't like it.

I walked over to the weapons and dropped the mace, crouching to grab the longsword with my right hand, and the Dar'Misu with my left. They were both in scabbards, so all I had to do was throw the straps over my shoulders, which I did, without difficulty.

"No shield?" Alistair asked, seeming disappointed.

"Nah," I replied, nonchalant. "Why would I need a shield when we have you to take all the beating?"

"Oh, ha ha." He gave me a mock laugh and crossed his arms.

"I know. I'm hilarious, right?" I started laughing as Lyna put the weapons back in her bag before digging through for something else.

"Huh," she said, getting my attention. "I don't have any armor for you to wear." _Damn it. That really sucks._

I shrugged. "I think I'll be fine without it for now."

She looked up at me quizzically.

"Are you sure?" Alistair asked. "I'm sensing some darkspawn nearby." _Huh?_

"What do you mean 'sensing?'"

"Grey Wardens can sense darkspawn. Let's go, before they attack Lothering." Lyna nodded and closed her bag, slinging it on her shoulders. We started walking over to another ramp, which led back up to the road. _I guess I'll find out what a darkspawn is in a couple minutes._

* * *

_**A/N:**_ Honestly, I'm not 100% sure how I'd react if I killed someone. Before you ask, death really doesn't bother me. Not really sure why. And yeah, I'd probably go with a sword and dagger or two daggers in real life if I had to choose. Maybe an axe instead of a sword, but idk. Please review!


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N:**_ Time for me to fight my first darkspawn. Sorry it took so long to update, I haven't been getting much time to type.

Enjoy!

* * *

We walked up to the ramp and heard a cry for help. I saw Alistair, Lyna, and Leliana instinctively grab their weapons, Morrigan and Sten following suit. I pulled out my sword and dagger before I followed them up the ramp, Elgar'nan barking. We got to the top and I saw half a dozen… creatures. Most were about human height, though a couple were half that. Their armor seemed to have been beaten in fights, then sloppily repaired. Their skin was greenish black, rotted and looking like it would fall apart if touched the wrong way. Their swords and axes looked vicious, like they had been broken off something and one edge sharpened. And their bows weren't much different. They kind of creeped me out.

I stopped. "Are those things darkspawn?" I asked as Alistair, Sten, and Elgar'nan charged, Lyna, Morrigan, and Leliana stopping and attacking from a distance.

"Yes," Lyna answered, firing an arrow at one of the taller creatures.

I moved to the closest darkspawn to me- one of the taller ones- and swung at it with my sword. Unfortunately, it blocked and tried to counterattack. I was able to block it and I faked a swing up high before thrusting at its leg. It blocked and kicked me to the ground. I landed on my back hard, my head bouncing off the ground.

"Son of a bitch," I swore as the pain from the impact hit me. I looked up and saw the darkspawn swing down with his sword. I raised up both my weapons to block it, catching its sword. It raised its sword and swung down again, harder. I caught the blow again before I kicked the darkspawn of in the gut, knocking it to the ground. I got up and saw that the darkspawn had gotten up too. It swung and I ducked, thrusting with my dagger into its gut. I felt my dagger go in and heard the thing shriek before it collapsed. I pulled my dagger out and looked at it on the ground, bleeding dark red- almost black- blood. The smell hit me and I grimaced at it. It smelled bad, but it definitely wasn't the worst thing I'd ever smelt.

I sheathed my sword and dagger and rubbed the back of my head, feeling a slight bump. I looked around and saw that the rest of the darkspawn were dead, some with arrows embedded in them, others with slashes and bite marks.

Alistair walked up to me, smiling, and said, "Congratulations. You killed your first darkspawn."

"Yeah, I guess so," I replied. "Hit my head pretty hard."

He shrugged. "Better than having a sword in your stomach."

"Heh, yeah. I'm gonna get headache from it, though."

He shrugged again. I looked over and saw two guys who were half the height of a human, but I doubted they were human in the first place. I guessed that they were the ones who called for help. Lyna finished talking to them and we turned around, heading further down the road.

* * *

We walked until it started getting dark. We eventually got off the road and set up camp, Lyna starting a fire before she cooked the rest of us something to eat. She had told me that everyone in her clan knew how to cook even though only a few of them actually did. We ate and everyone laid down on their cots except Sten, who was on watch with Elgar'nan.

Everyone except for Sten and Morrigan had their cots surrounding the fire. Sten's cot was somewhat further away than everyone else's and Morrigan set up her own mini-camp far away from the rest of us.

The two men we saved- who I later found out were dwarves- turned out to be merchants, the younger one supposedly great with enchantments- whatever that meant. They were sleeping next to their wagon, which was filled with various items and covered over with a large sheet.

I was laying down on my cot as everyone else was sleeping. I couldn't sleep. Too much had happened today for me not to reflect on it to figure out what exactly happened.

I thought about how I was walking along the highway before I ended up in that forest. How I followed that wall until I found that ramp and found out that the wall was actually a road. About how I ran into those bandits and how they almost killed me.

That's when I realized how lucky I was. If I hadn't run across Lyna, Alistair, and Morrigan, those bandits would have killed me.

The thought terrified me. Not the dying, but the nothingness afterwards. I had never been a believer of religion, so I thought more intently about what happened after someone died. I eventually came to the conclusion that nothing happened. Absolutely nothing. I didn't believe that when you died, your 'soul' went to some sort of afterlife to live on forever. I thought that it was wishful thinking, at best. Even with that in mind, the thought of all that nothingness after death frightened me. I had a subconscious need to keep active in some way. Whether physical or mental, I needed some sort of activity. The thought of not being able to do anything… seemed torturous to me.

Despite that, I didn't feel anything when I killed that villager earlier. The way I saw it, he was coming after me, so if I didn't kill him, he would have killed me. I had no qualms about killing someone if there was no alternative. Some might not like that- specifically those who believed that you should always find a peaceful solution-, but I knew that sometimes, a peaceful solution simply wouldn't be possible. If you hesitated about killing someone who was coming after you, they'd mostly likely kill you.

I heard Lyna jerk awake suddenly. I rolled my head to the side to see Alistair sitting across the fire from her, looking at her with a sympathetic look. I decided to listen in as they talked. They were talking about dreams and darkspawn and Grey Wardens and how they all managed to tie together. Something about an archdemon- whatever that was- and the Blight and how they would eventually be able to block the dreams out. Alistair then said something about hearing Lyna thrashing around in her sleep.

I hadn't heard her thrashing around. I guessed I was too busy thinking about what happened to hear anything. Eventually, Lyna got up and left- probably to clear her head- and Alistair went back to sleep.

I decided to try and get some sleep too, so I rolled over onto my stomach and closed my eyes. My mind was still racing, though, and it didn't help that I didn't feel tired at all. After a few minutes of trying to go to sleep, I hit the ground and stood up. I decided to go for a little walk.

I started walking. After a bit I heard something in one of the trees. I looked up and saw Lyna sitting on one of the branches, looking at something in the distance.

"Lyna?" I asked, getting her attention.

"Huh? Oh, hello Jason," she replied, looking down at me. "You need something?"

"Not really. I just couldn't sleep."

She shrugged.

"Alright if I come up?"

"Sure."

I started climbing up the trunk, grabbing notches in the tree and stepping on them as I went. Eventually, I got to the branch Lyna was on, standing on it where it connected to the trunk. I wrapped my arm around the tree to support myself before I said, "I never really thanked you for saving my ass today."

"It's alright. Those bandits were scum, anyway."

"Yeah, but if I didn't run into you guys when I did, they'd have killed me."

"Actually, you ran past us."

"You know what I meant."

We sat in silence for a few minutes before Lyna said, "After we fought off those villagers, you said you never killed anyone before. Is that true?"

"Yeah."

"Do you… regret it?"

"Not really. That guy was going to kill me, so I defended myself."

"Well, how did you feel about it?"

"Surprised, really. Like I said, I never killed anyone."

"Well… what did you think about the darkspawn?"

"They kind of freaked me out. Strong as hell too."

"You weren't afraid?"

"I've seen scarier stuff. I just think they're kind of creepy."

"The way you speak is strange. Does everyone in the Free Marches speak the way you do?"

_ Shit. Time to lie again._ "Yeah. Well, people around my age, anyway."

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

Her eyes widened slightly. "I would have thought you'd be older. Your voice sounds so mature."

I shrugged. "Yeah, I know. I also look younger than I really am. Weird, huh?"

"I suppose…" She looked out toward something in the distance for a while before she said, "Do you miss it?"

"What, my home? My family?" She nodded without looking at me. "I don't know. I haven't been gone all that long. Besides, my family moved around a lot, so I never really got attached to anywhere." _Not a single lie there._

"Hmm… I think you'd fit in fine with the Dalish."

"The Dalish? You mean your people?"

She nodded. "Every clan is always moving from place to place, never staying in one place for too long."

I raised an eyebrow before asking, "Why?"

"Humans don't trust us. There have been many… incidents between humans and the clans of my people, so we simply keep moving to reduce the risk of more incidents."

"Incidents? You mean fighting?"

"Sometimes, yes. There have been times when humans kidnap the younger members of a clan and either murder or, in the case of the women and girls,… rape them. Sometimes both…"

"Then why don't your clans just stay away from humans entirely? Find somewhere to be separate from them?"

"Easier said than done. The humans have driven our peoples from our homelands twice. First Arlathan, then the Dales."

_ 'Our peoples?' Oh shit, that's right, I'm an elf now._ "Oh…" We stayed silent for a little while before I finally asked, "Do you miss your clan? You look a little homesick."

She looked at me and frowned slightly. "Of course I do. The people in my clan were more than just my people. They were my family."

"You wish you didn't have to leave them?"

She set her jaw and nodded. "But if I didn't, I would be dead. Just like…" She trailed off, quickly looking away.

"Like who?"

She didn't answer.

"Like who?" I repeated.

"I don't want to talk about it."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"I don't want to talk about it." I thought I heard her voice crack.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. I just… I want to be alone."

"Alright. I guess I should go get some sleep, anyway." She nodded without looking at me. I looked down and estimated that we were about ten feet up. I crouched down grabbed the branch with my hands before I dropped the rest of myself below it. I let go and dropped to the ground, the ground crunching from the landing. I glanced back towards Lyna before I started walking back to the camp.

When I got back, I saw that Leliana was up. _Must be her turn._ I continued walked and Leliana noticed me, saying, "Where were you?"

"I went out for a walk. Couldn't sleep."

"Do you know where Lyna is?"

"She's sitting in a tree. I think she's just clearing her head."

"Oh."

I walked back over to my cot and laid down on my stomach, pulling the covers over my back. I soon fell asleep.

* * *

I woke to people's voices and a bright light. My eyes were still closed and I was now on my side, so I listened to what they were saying.

"… think he's alright? He hasn't woken up yet," a man's voice said. It sounded like Alistair.

"I don't know. Maybe we should try to wake him up again?" A woman's voice this time. It sounded like Lyna.

"He did hit his head pretty hard yesterday. Not to mention that arrow."

"I say we splash some water on him." Morrigan's voice. "If he does not waken, we leave him." _Bitch._

"We are not going to do that." Lyna's voice again.

I opened my eyes, only to close them quickly as the brightness of day nearly blinded me. I lifted my hand to cover my eyes and groaned groggily. I opened my eyes again and saw Lyna, Alistair, and Morrigan standing over me. Morrigan's arms were crossed as they all looked down at me. I slowly sat up as Alistair said, "Finally you're awake. We were starting to worry."

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. Sorry, I should have told you I'm a heavy sleeper."

"You're telling me. I've never seen anyone sleep that deeply." I noticed Morrigan turn and walk away.

"What time is it?"

"Nearly noon," Lyna replied.

I started stretching my arms and back. "Huh. Usually I sleep till two."

Alistair's eyes widened. "That late?" he asked, incredulous.

"Yeah." I finally stood up and stretched some more. I was still groggy and my whole body was heavy as a result. "Where are we going now?"

"Hmm… Denerim," Lyna answered.

_ Denerim?_ "How long is it going to take for us to get there?"

"About a week," Alistair replied. "Guess it's the best place to get information about what's going on."

"Oh, before I forget," Lyna started, reaching into her bag. "I managed to get you some leather armor from Bodahn." She handed it to me. "Try it on."

"You know, I'm still groggy right now," I said, taking the armor from her.

"Try splashing some water on your face."

I shrugged as I slipped off my shoes and put on the leather boots. They fit great, hugging my feet tight enough to stay on, but loose enough that my feet could breath. I slipped on the armor and it fit fine. Then I slipped on the gloves.

They fit fine, but I never liked wearing gloves because they limited how much I could feel. "Is there a way I cut the finger tips off these?" I asked, slipping them off.

* * *

_**A/N:**_ Yeah, I really am a heavy sleeper. And I do stretch a lot when I wake up.


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N:**_ Sorry this chapter is shorter than the others. I'll try to make up for it.

Enjoy!

* * *

Lyna had helped me cut the fingertips off my gloves, which proved harder than I expected, before we started off for Denerim. It felt weird wearing armor with a sword and dagger on my back. The leather armor was light, but it felt thick, probably to help better defend against slashes. It wouldn't do much against an arrow other than slow it down and wouldn't really help if someone decided to thrust. It also wouldn't help against maces. The lightness of the armor allowed me to move easily, but offered only some protection. That gave me more of a reason to stay alert so I wouldn't get hit with another arrow. Leliana's armor was the same.

Alistair was wearing a type of armor called splintmail. It looked like it best protected against slashes and cuts, but it was able to protect against thrusts and arrows too, though to a lesser extent. It offered better protection than my leather armor, but it seemed rigid and a little difficult to move in. Then again, he had a shield too, a square-shaped one with little curved sections cut out, one on both sides. It seemed to be two-foot square and made out a metal I couldn't quite recognize.

Sten was wearing heavier-looking armor than Alistair, chainmail visible on the joints. It looked like there was chainmail underneath the thin-seeming plates that covered his chest, legs, and arms. Like the splintmail, chainmail was best suited to defending against slashes and cuts. It offered little protection against thrusts, but that seemed to be what the metal plates were for.

Lyna's armor seemed to be made of leather like mine and Leliana's, but her midsection was exposed. The only part of her torso from the waist up that had armor was her chest and shoulders, which offered her modesty that Morrigan didn't seem to care about, her robes only somewhat covering her breasts. Lyna's gloves seemed thicker around her fore and middle fingers, which were worn from use. I assumed it was because of her bowstring, considering how she was an archer like Leliana.

I didn't understand why her armor was like that. It offered less protection that my armor, despite being made of the same material. Then again, since she was an archer, she tended to hang back in fights. I was sure that she could defend herself up close if she needed to, but that didn't mean that she wouldn't need someone distracting enemies to keep them off her.

If her people made armor like that for their hunters, than maybe it was only for the women. Maybe the men had their whole torso covered. Maybe the men were the ones who got up close and personal with whoever- or whatever- they were fighting and the women were the archers.

Then I remembered Lord of the Rings were elves were the best archers around. Maybe it was something like that- the Dalish being the best archers around, regardless of gender. The elegant designs on the dagger I had picked up suddenly reminded me of Lord of the Rings too. In the movie, the elves' culture was closely entwined with nature, affecting everything from their art to their weapons and fighting style.

Then I noticed the elegant designs on Lyna's bow, seeming to depict a wolf running along twisting vines after a rabbit. At least, that's what I saw.

Morrigan wasn't dressed in armor. She was dressed in clothes that she seemed to have sewn together from various pieces of cloth. There was an occasional tear or rip in certain places, some of which seemed to have been repaired, only to be undone. She wore fingerless gloves and had a couple of necklaces around her neck. She even had some sort of… amulet? It was hard for me to tell what it was. She also had some type of ring around her right ring finger, though I didn't think it was for decoration.

Alistair had a ring on each ring finger and some type of amulet, just like Leliana, though she had a belt to go with it.

Lyna had an amulet too, as well as a ring and a belt. Her amulet looked like it was filled with a dark red liquid which reminded me of the darkspawn I killed. I assumed it was a trophy from her first kill or something like that. Her ring seemed to have been made out of some type of wood as opposed to the metal rings everyone else except for me and Sten had. It had elegant designs on it like her bow and my dagger, so I guessed it was also made by her people. The belt seemed like an ordinary belt, however. It didn't seem special at all.

The more I thought about it, the weirder our group seemed. There was Lyna the Dalish archer, Alistair who was apparently the senior Grey Warden instead of Lyna, Morrigan the witch who was also a complete bitch, Leliana who apparently had visions, Sten the qunari warrior- apparently qunari were rare this far south-, and me. I was probably the oddball of this group of misfits considering how I was human a couple of days ago. Not to mention that I'm new to everything here.

Then again, considering how everything here screamed 'dark ages' I was probably the smartest person around. I was great at math- though that probably wouldn't help much now-, science- again, that probably wouldn't help-, and I was a really quick learner. Unfortunately, I didn't know anything about this place other than the fact that magic, elves, dwarves, and monsters all existed. If I wanted to be able to blend in and not stick out, I needed to learn more about the… world I was in. I couldn't outright ask about everything that I didn't know about. Everyone would know that I lied about being from the Free Marches- wherever that was.

Then I realized that I would need to come up with more lies in case they wanted to know more about me. I could be very vague about most stuff, maybe say that I don't like talking about my past. If they asked where in the Free Marches I was from, I could tell them I was from a farm in the country. If Lyna asked, I would have to add that it was where we last ended up before I left. If they ask why I left, I could just say that I don't feel like talking about it. That should discourage any more questions.

"You are strange."

I looked to see Sten towering over me as we walked, eyeing me. "What do you mean?" I asked.

"You say you never used a sword before, yet you have already killed a man and a darkspawn. I would expect any other of your kind to panic at killing someone, but you seem… indifferent."

I shrugged. "The way I see it, that guy was trying to kill me. I just defended myself."

"And the darkspawn? I would have expected you to flee, yet you fought."

I shrugged again. "They didn't really scare me."

"I see. So you have encountered them before?"

"No. That was the first time I ever saw one."

"And yet you were not afraid. Interesting."

He sped up his pace and ended up just behind Lyna, next to Elgar'nan. I kept walking with everyone else. Eventually, Leliana appeared next to me. I almost didn't hear her footsteps. "I've seen you fight," she said. "You've done well for someone who never used a sword before."

"It's not that hard to get the basics," I replied. "Swing, block, thrust, dodge- it's pretty easy."

"I assure you, it is harder than it looks."

"No shit. Most stuff is. It's easy to watch someone dive off a cliff into a river, but it's hard to do it for yourself." I remembered going white water rafting on the Delaware River and seeing everyone stopped near a seventy foot cliff that had a ledge at twenty feet, thirty feet, and fifty feet. The river was about thirty feet deep in that area, so people would always stop there to jump off the cliff into the river. I remembered the time when my dad's friend went all the way to the top and did a cannonball off of it into the river. He was a big guy- and I mean big as in fat- and it was hilarious to watch him run to the edge of the cliff- his stomach bouncing up and down with each stride- and jump off, curling himself into a ball as he fell toward the water. The splash he made was HUGE. Me and my sister couldn't stop laughing at that when he did it. I did jump off it a few times, but mostly at the twenty foot ledge. I didn't like heights much.

She raised both her eyebrows in confusion. "What?" I asked. "It's true."

"Off a **cliff**?"

"Yeah. It was a lot of fun." I smiled at the memory.

"Isn't that dangerous?"

"It wasn't that high up. Besides, the river was pretty deep. No one ever hit the bottom."

"Just how many people did this?"

"A lot."

"And they thought it was fun?"

"Yeah. If it wasn't fun, do you think anyone would bother?"

She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again. She sped her pace and ended up walking next to Sten, starting a conversation with him. _So I'm the weird one in a group of misfits? You've got to be shitting me…_

* * *

We camped for the night. Alistair was the first one to be on watch when everyone went to sleep. We ate rabbits that Lyna had caught, skinned, and cooked. The texture was weird, but it tasted good so I didn't mind. All of us were still awake, doing one thing or another until we got tired and fell asleep.

I was sitting next to Elgar'nan, petting him as he panted happily. I was describing the different breeds of dogs I knew about to him- Lyna and Alistair had told me that a mabari is smart enough to understand what people say- and he seemed intrigued… or maybe it was because I was petting him. It looked like he was listening- he seemed to get excited when I started talking about how big Saint Bernards and Great Danes were-, but I couldn't really tell whether he actually understood me or not.

"You understand what I'm saying, right?" I asked.

He barked.

"Is that a yes or no?"

He barked again.

"You realize that I can't understand you, right?"

He gave a low whine.

"Ok, how about this: one bark for yes and two for no. Got it?"

One bark.

"Ok. I guess that answers my first question too."

He barked and wagged his tail happily.

I heard footsteps approaching from the left, so I looked over and saw Morrigan walking over, a dead, half-eaten rabbit hanging from her hand. It had patches of fur missing, meaning that it wasn't one that Lyna had caught.

"Look at what that fool dog placed in my pack," she complained.

Elgar'nan gave a low whine as he cocked his head at her.

"A putrid, half-eaten hare is not something a woman wants to find in her unmentionables." I couldn't help but laugh at that. "'Tis not funny." She glared at me.

"Yeah it is. Dogs tend to give small, half-eaten animals to people as gifts. Elgar'nan was just trying to be nice." Elgar'nan barked happily in agreement. "See?"

Morrigan just rolled her eyes. "The dirty mongrel can have this back," she said, dropping the rabbit on the ground in front of Elgar'nan. "Tell Lyna to make sure he doesn't do it again."

"I think she'll just laugh." I smirked at her.

She rolled her eyes again. Elgar'nan whined at her and she said, "I don't want it, you worthless fur bag."

He lowered his ears and gave a sad whine.

"Great. You hurt his feelings," I said accusingly, more to mock her than anything.

She scoffed. "He's just trying to be manipulative. I can tell. I do it too."

As she turned to leave, I said, "At least you admitted it." I smirked as she scoffed and walked away.

Elgar'nan gave another low whine and I looked at him.

"Don't worry about her. You're still a good boy."

He barked happily and licked my face. I started petting him again. _She's still a_ bitch.

* * *

_**A/N:**_ The story about the cliff on the Delaware River that people jump off of is 100% true. I had a lot of fun there.


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N:**_ Sorry this one's late. I haven't been able to get much time to type.

Enjoy!

* * *

We had been traveling a couple more days and I was told that it would be a few more before we reached Denerim. Other than the occasional group of refugees, we didn't really meet anyone on the road. We never said much to them- they were usually too focused on Sten to say anything. We mostly just acknowledged each other and kept moving.

I had talked to Alistair quite a bit, considering how he seemed to be the one I got along with best. We'd talk about the funniest things we remembered from our past and get some real good laughs- I was a bit vague on the details to make sure he didn't start asking too many questions. There were some real funny stories I just couldn't mention because they involved modern stuff. Stuff that would be foreign to him and anyone else from this world.

I also learned quite a bit about his past. Apparently he was training to be a Templar when he was recruited, though he never chose to be a Templar in the first place. Apparently Templars existed to keep mages in line, a role that Alistair didn't seem to like. From what he said, Morrigan was an example of an apostate- a mage living outside the Circle- and that meant that bringing her along could cause problems as apostates were considered to be 'illegal mages'- another thing Alistair didn't seem to completely agree with. And I had to admit, I didn't like it much either.

Bodahn and Sandal- the dwarven merchants- tagged along with us, though I wasn't completely sure why. I assumed that they stuck around for pretty much the same reason I did: safety in numbers.

While I could probably head off on my own now that I had weapons and armor, I stayed. The main reason was that I didn't want to leave. I knew what we were going to be doing was dangerous- Lyna had pretty much said so from the start-, but I felt like I had a better chance surviving whatever was going to happen with Alistair, Lyna, and the others, than going off on my own in a world I didn't know anything about. I had to think more logically now that every decision could mean life or death.

The severity of the situation hit me. Everything so far **had** been life-or-death. Running from those bandits, deciding to follow Lyna and Alistair, killing that villager, fighting that darkspawn… Every decision I made had allowed me to survive. If I hadn't chosen to run from those bandits, I'd be dead. If I didn't decided to follow Lyna and Alistair, I'd likely be lost and have no idea what to do. If I didn't kill that villager, he would've killed me. And I had a pretty good feeling about what would have happened if I hadn't fought that darkspawn. I had made at least four life-saving decisions in one day without realizing it. I didn't doubt that I would make more decisions like that. The question was when and at who's expense, if anyone's.

I had never considered how I would feel if someone died to save my life. I never had a reason to. When someone died, I didn't really care. Especially if it was a celebrity that died. I never understood why people got so **upset** when a celebrity died. It wasn't like they knew them personally.

I had always heard people say that dying in your sleep was a really peaceful way to go. Personally, I'd rather see my death coming. If I only had a short amount of time to live, I would want know about it. I didn't want to die in my sleep, no matter how many people thought it was 'peaceful'. I didn't like the idea of not knowing when I was going to die. It just seemed like I'd be living a lie if I didn't know I was about to die. I didn't want that at all.

Again, I had never considered the idea of someone dying to save my ass. Then again, Lyna, Alistair, and Morrigan had risked their lives to save mine… Well, maybe not Morrigan. She didn't strike me as the type to help people who needed it just for the sake of being helpful. She was probably just following Lyna's orders.

I started to feel like maybe I owed Lyna and Alistair. They killed those bandits when they could have just moved to the side. They allowed me to tag along, despite the fact that I had never used a sword before. They even offered to train me. Hell, they were probably two of the nicest people I had ever met, yet I hadn't considered to return the favor. I didn't know what I could do to thank them. I mean, 'thanks' didn't seem like it was enough for them helping me out the way they were. Then again, Sten probably would've starved to death in that cage if we hadn't gotten him out of there, yet he didn't seem particularly grateful for that. Well, maybe Sten wasn't the best example. He didn't seem like he cared whether he lived or died.

I started looking around. Lyna and Alistair were ahead of me with Elgar'nan in tow. Leliana was a bit off to my left, Sten a few footsteps behind and to her right. Morrigan trailed behind, Bodahn and Sandal on their ox-driven cart next to her.

It seemed like Alistair and Lyna were talking about something, so I decided to try and listen to them. It turned out that they were talking about the Grey Wardens. Lyna asked what would happen if they just decided to leave Fereldan and Alistair said something about the Grey Wardens from other nations coming to fight the Blight, but it would be well after Fereldan was already overrun by darkspawn. She then asked if there was any way for them to contact the rest of the Wardens. Alistair didn't seem sure if they could, but he said that the nearest Grey Warden outpost was Weisshaupt Fortress, which was thousands of miles away so it wasn't an option.

I couldn't help but curse under my breath. _So, basically, there's no help coming. Shit._ I noticed Lyna look at me over her shoulder.

"I guess you heard all of that, huh?" she asked.

"Yeah," I replied. "Sucks that we aren't going to get help from the rest of the Wardens."

Alistair shrugged and looked at me over his shoulder. "King Cailan sent a message out to the Wardens in Orlais," he said. "I'm not sure if they got it, though."

"And considering how the Wardens are considered traitors, they won't be able to get here anyway, huh?"

He shrugged again. "I don't know. Either way, we can't count on help coming anytime soon."

"So we stick to the treaties," Lyna said. "We get the dwarves, my people, and the mages to help fight the darkspawn."

"What about Loghain?" I asked. "You can't waste that army on trying to take him down."

"Arl Eamon is our best bet to fight Loghain," Alistair said. "He's respected in the Landsmeet. If anyone can stop the civil war Loghain is starting, it's him."

"How? Do you mean in terms of manpower or politics?"

"He doesn't have the manpower to stand down Loghain and his allies. No one does. At least, not on their own."

"Guess that means politics. Well, that's just great." I rolled my eyes. I never liked politics much.

"How would Loghain be able to take the throne, anyway?" Lyna asked.

"His daughter, Anora, is queen, so he has a claim through marriage," Alistair replied. "Not a lot of the nobles would agree to him taking the throne, though. Eamon was Cailan's uncle, so he has a claim through marriage as well, but his claim is much stronger. If any heir of Cailan's is to be found, it would be Eamon himself."

"You'd think that Cailan would've had a brother or something to take over," I commented. It didn't make sense for Cailan to be the end of the line.

I could've sworn I saw Alistair flinch at that, but Lyna didn't seem to notice. "As far as anyone knows, Cailan had no brother or heir. That's what makes things so complicated."

I started to miss democracy. It would have made things so much easier. But no, this is medieval times… kind of. If democracy existed, it wouldn't be very popular, considering how people liked to believe that God- or, in this case, the Maker- chose the royalty. Democracy didn't really start to become popular until the late nineteen twenties and even then, it was slow progress until the internet showed up. Funny how one of the better forms of government stays in the shadows until technology starts pushing superstitious belief away. Yeah, religion would never go away, at least, not entirely. But that didn't mean its influence wouldn't diminish.

I shook my head. "I hate politics." I heard Alistair start to chuckle in agreement.

* * *

Another day of traveling and another night at camp. This time, I was supposed to take first watch with Sten. We had another batch of rabbits for dinner, which Lyna had caught, skinned, and cooked, but everyone was still awake. The moon had only come up a half-hour ago, so it wasn't all that late.

I was sitting on the ground and examining the designs on my dagger- the Dar'Misu as Lyna called it-, tracing my index finger along the engraved patterns and wondering what they were supposed to represent. On the handle, there were ever-twirling vines, leaves sprouting a various intervals. It ended where the handle met the blade itself. On the blade, there was writing inscribed into it, a language I didn't recognize. It went the length of the blade, stopping an inch or two from the tip. It was single-edged and curved, so that meant I could only cut with one side of it. The curvature of the blade allowed for an easier swing and let it cut easier and cleaner because all the force of the swing would be focused on a very small area, multiplying it ten-fold. Then again, the shortness of it meant that it was meant for thrusting rather than slicing, so I guess it didn't matter.

My sword was bland in comparison. It was long and straight, double-edged, and had no designs on it other than the maker's mark on the pommel. It seemed to have been made out of a similar metal as my dagger, but of a lower quality. Apparently it was the standard for human blacksmiths to forge and was pretty similar to the dwarven-made equivalent in design. Supposedly the dwarves made the best weapons and armor available, better than any human blacksmith.

I noticed a slight shadow appear on the ground in front of me. I turned around and looked up to see Lyna standing there. "Do you need anything?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Nah, I'm good," I replied. "You?"

"I'm fine." She looked at the dagger in my hands before asking, "Do you want to know what Dar'Misu means?"

_ It means something?_ "Uh, yeah. What does it mean?"

"It means, 'this blade acts alone.'"

"Huh. Then what does the writing on the blade mean?"

She crouched down and looked at the writing intently. "I'm sorry, but I can only make out some of the words. I think this Dar'Misu dates back to the Dales before the humans conquered it four hundred years ago."

"So I have a four-hundred-year-old dagger? Damn." The blade looked new. Well, relatively new. I did use it to kill a darkspawn a couple days ago. I never would've thought it was **that** old.

"I believe that this is one of several weapons that have been with my clan since the fall of the Dales. Many others were lost or taken by the humans as trophies. I still do not understand why they cannot just leave my people be." I noticed her frown somewhat.

"Humans tend to do that." I wasn't sure why I just said that, but it was too late now. She gave me a quizzical look, like she was waiting for an explanation so I continued. "Humans in general are greedy, superstitious, arrogant, naïve, stupid, and just general assholes. They tend to not like anything different and become aggressive when they think their beliefs are threatened. Specifically when it comes to religion. Humans tend to want to get into everyone's business and try to get them to believe what they believe. When no one listens, they get aggressive or offended and start trying to use propaganda and lies to make everyone else think you are evil. Humans tend to not want to get along with anyone, even each other.

"Alistair isn't like that."

"That's why I said humans in **general**. There are always exceptions to generalizations."

"Well… isn't that a little pessimistic?"

I shrugged. "It's just how things are. I'd like give people the benefit of doubt, but that's probably not going to be a good idea considering what's going on right now."

She started to say something, but she stopped herself. It looked like she was thinking about what I said. Then she looked at me again. "You might be right."

I shrugged and sheathed my dagger. "I should get ready to keep watch with Sten. Funny how no one's come after us yet."

She shrugged. "We've been careful."

We both stood up and she walked towards her cot. I started walking over to Sten. _Gonna be a long night…_

* * *

_**A/N:**_ Honestly, I'm not sure about this chapter. It's mostly a filler chapter anyway. Let me know what you guys think.


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N:**_ Sorry for this one being a bit late. I made it longer than usual to make up for it.

Enjoy!

* * *

Everyone had finally fell asleep except for me and Sten. Well, Elgar'nan was still awake too, but he wasn't subject to the same schedule the rest of us were. I sat next to the campfire, stoking it from time to time with a stick.

I had been camping before, so none of this was exactly strange to me anyway. I remembered roasting marshmallows in a campfire way back when my family would go camping every so often. Well, it was usually just me, my sister, and my dad since my mom didn't really go camping that often.

I had a specific way I liked my marshmallows. I liked them somewhat browned so they would be nice and crispy on the outside, warm and gooey on the inside. While everyone else was trying to make the entire outside of their marshmallows brown- some of them finding that they had accidentally set them on fire- I was enjoying one marshmallow and roasting another.

I couldn't even remember the last time I went camping with my family. We always had fun though, my dad telling the funniest stories he remembered and getting laughs from one of his jokes with me and my sister messing with each other from time to time. It had been a while since we had done something like that. I always had a great time with my dad. He was funny as hell and had some really hilarious stories from when he was growing up. Yeah, sometimes he took the joke too far, but he was still fun to be around.

My mom, on the other hand, I pretty much hated. She always yelled at me for the stupidest stuff and would ground me for reasons that made no sense. I always managed to get around it though- she wasn't all that smart. My dad would have a lot of fun messing with her, as did me and my sister. I had little respect for her, simply because whenever I'd get into an argument with her, she'd keep interrupting me as I tried to get my point across. It wouldn't have been that bad if that was all she did, but a lot of times we'd 'finish' an argument and a few minutes later she bring it right back up with another reason why she was 'right'. She also had a problem of not knowing when to stop yapping. She'd constantly mention what her friends were doing and continue talking even if I left the damn room.

I had a lot of respect for my dad, though. He didn't have to deal with my mom, but he stuck around simply because of me and my sister. Instead of yelling, he'd try to compromise and show his side as calmly as he could. And considering how his dad never stuck around, that just gave me more respect for him.

For me, respect was a funny thing. The way I saw it, I didn't owe respect to anyone unless they gave me a reason to. That didn't mean that I was disrespectful to people. I just didn't automatically respect someone because I was told to or because of who they were. So far, there wasn't anyone that I respected but didn't like. I guess I'm weird like that.

I respected Lyna and Alistair. I was on the fence about Sten and Leliana as I hadn't known them long enough, but I didn't really have much respect for Morrigan simply because of her attitude. The way I saw it, if someone didn't show me any respect, I didn't have to show them any respect. You get what you give- karma's a bitch like that.

Then again, I didn't exactly believe in karma- or luck, for that matter. To me, if you thought something bad was going to happen to you, it probably was because of your state of mind regarding that. If you thought you had bad luck, that's what you'd get. I learned not to expect things to happen to you, good or bad. Considering how many times my family had been screwed over, it was for the best.

I continued stoking the fire, lost in my thoughts due to the little amount of thought I needed to put into the activity. I felt a sensation that made me feel like I was floating and spinning around, my head being at the center of the spin. It was a familiar enough sensation. If I was relaxed or doing something repetitive, not really thinking about much, that feeling would show up until I moved or it simply faded away. The sensation was always accompanied by a tingling sensation that felt kind of… good, I guess.

I had heard that feeling was associated with one of the later steps of astral projection, something I had always wondered about. I wasn't much of spiritual person, truth be told, but that didn't stop me from wondering what it would be like to astral project. Basically, it was an out-of-body experience induced by being relaxed. Almost like meditation, I guess. Then again, I wasn't one for meditation either.

The sensation faded away like it had so many times before, but I didn't really care. I was bored and stoking the fire was something to occupy myself. I knew Sten was patrolling the camp like a guard on duty, Elgar'nan gnawing on a bone Lyna had found while hunting for the rabbits we had eaten earlier. I really wished that I at least had some music to listen to. Modern music like rock or pop. No country, though. Country music always sounded the same to me, all of the guy singers sounding exactly alike as did all of the women singers.

What I really wanted to listen to though, was some Linkin Park or Aerosmith. I preferred rock music at heart and those were my two favorite bands. I started absently tapping out the beat to Breaking the Habit, a Linkin Park song, as I continued stoking the fire. Before I knew it, I was mumbling the lyrics under my breath in an attempt to prevent myself from going insane from boredom.

I decided to look toward the moon to figure out what time it was. I looked up and it seemed like the moon was almost directly above, but it wasn't quite there yet. Leliana was supposed to have second watch with Alistair and we were supposed to switch at midnight. I dropped the stick a couple of feet from the fire, got up, and walked over to Sten, who was still patrolling the camp.

Then I felt Elgar'nan brush up against my leg as I walked, nudging me with his head. I stopped and looked down at him, his bone sideways in his mouth. He gave a low whine and nudged me again.

"What?" I asked. "You want to play fetch?"

He dropped the bone at my feet and looked back up at me, giving another low whine.

"Me and Sten gotta wake up Alistair and Leliana soon. Can't you wait until they're up?"

Another low whine.

"Alright, fine. One throw, then I have to wake them up."

He barked happily and started jumping around in a circle, wagging his short tail rapidly in excitement. I bent down and grabbed the bone on one of the slobber-less sections and stood back up. I pulled my arm back and swung forward, releasing the bone some distance away from everyone else so I didn't hit anyone. He barked happily again and chased after the bone. I watched as he got to the bone and grabbed it in his mouth before turning around, panting happily.

I turned around and headed toward Sten again. I was tired and glad that I'd finally get some sleep.

* * *

We started walking again the next day. I had had a weird dream the night before. I was walking through a… city, I guess. Everything was colored in varying shades of tan and I looked to my right and saw a group walking away from me, two women and two men, one of which seemed to be a dwarf. One woman had long, black hair and staff strapped to her back, the other had long, blonde hair and an bow strapped on her back with a set of arrows to go with it. The man- not the dwarf- had a huge sword on his back and short, white hair. The dwarf had short, blonde hair that came into a pony tail on the back of his head, some type of crossbow on his back.

I shook it off. I had some really weird dreams from time to time and I chalked up that one as being one of them.

We ended up having to walk single-file because we reached a section of the road that wasn't that wide. I heard Bodahn curse the Ancestors- whatever that meant- because of the trees. It sounded like he kept getting whacked in the face by some of the branches.

The weather had been fairly dry so far and today was really warm- I guesstimated it to be about seventy-five, eighty degrees Fahrenheit. I was just grateful that it was a dry heat so I wasn't sweating my balls off.

It seemed like Lyna, Sten, and Morrigan were taking the heat well, Alistair and Leliana sweating a little bit. Elgar'nan was panting heavily in the heat. I couldn't tell how Bodahn and Sandal were doing, but it seemed like Bodahn was more focused on the branches that kept whacking him in the face.

I sort of thought it was funny. He cursed every time he was whacked with a branch- which was fairly often. I chuckled to myself when I saw Lyna tilt her head a little bit, as if she was listening for something.

"Get down!" she ordered and we all instinctively ducked to the ground. I heard whizzing sounds followed by a few dozen 'thunks'. I looked up and saw that the trees on our left had arrows embedded in them, many with their feathered ends facing towards where we had been a second ago. I heard rustling coming from the right and I unsheathed my sword and dagger, everyone else doing the same with their respective weapons. I stayed low as the rustling grew louder, the bushes starting to shake.

I visualized what I could do. I could thrust as soon as someone emerged as long as they didn't attack first. If they attacked first, I could block and follow up with a counterattack, probably aiming low for a leg strike to cripple them before finishing them off.

It didn't work out the way I thought it would, though. Someone emerged from the bush in front of me and swung downward. I blocked with my sword and tried to strike his leg, but he blocked it. Then he kicked me to the ground and I ended up on my back, but at least I still had a hold on my sword and dagger. I rolled backward onto my feet as he thrust into the ground before I swung high, my sword making contact with his exposed neck. Somehow, it was a clean decapitation.

I watched as the man's head fell to the ground, soon followed by the rest of his body, blood spurting from the man's neck. It looked like I had managed to cut between the vertebrae, severing the spinal cord. I looked away. It was just plain gross.

I saw that someone was sneaking up on Lyna, so, without thinking, I started running straight toward the guy. I lunged toward the him, tackling him to the ground. Pain erupted from my shoulder because of the impact with the man's steel breastplate, but I ignored it as I lifted my upper body enough to maneuver my dagger deep into his armpit, angling it to hit his heart. A gurgling sound and the man went limp, releasing his grip on his weapon. I had to yank my dagger hard to get it out of the man's body, but I got it out.

I stood up and looked around to see that the battle was over, the bodies of our attackers strewn all over the road. I looked toward Lyna as she turned around, strapping her bow to her back.

"Thanks," she said.

"I guess we're even now, huh?" I replied, shrugging.

She smiled and nodded in response.

I sheathed my sword and dagger as I heard Alistair say, "What about me?"

I looked toward him with a look of mock annoyance. "So I have to save **your** ass too?"

"I'd prefer it if you saved the rest of me too." He started to laugh a little to himself.

"If **I** have to save your ass, then we really are in trouble." I smiled as I shook my head.

"Don't worry, I'll make it easy for you. Besides, you're getting better at this."

"Yeah, well I surprised this guy when I tackled him." I gestured to the body at my feet. "Guess he didn't see me coming." I smiled and shrugged.

He shrugged too before we all moved the bodies out of the way so that Bodahn's wagon could get through, Lyna looting the bodies for valuables and coin. When they were all on the sides of the road, I counted about a dozen of them. The bodies were heavy though, and the fight made me somewhat tired and a bit sweaty, so I asked Bodahn if he would let me ride on the back of the wagon so I could rest. He said yes and I climbed on the back, taking off my gloves and the chestpiece of my leather armor to be more comfortable. My shoulder was sore and so were my legs, probably from all the walking we'd done today. There was enough room on the end of the wagon for me to lay down so I made the armor I had taken off into a make-shift pillow and laid back, resting my head on it. I could have sworn I heard Sandal making more of his 'enchantments' as I rested my eyes.

* * *

I woke up to the sun shining in my eyes. I turned my head to the side and raised a hand to block out the glare as a sat up on the wagon I was still riding on. The sun had screwed up my sight so I blinked a few times to readjust my eyes to be able to see my surroundings. The trees that surrounded us when I passed out were gone and the road was significantly wider. We weren't moving and I didn't hear much other than two voices I didn't recognize coming from ahead of the wagon. I looked toward where Bodahn should have been sitting, but saw nothing. Slowly, I slipped my armor and gloves back on and gently lifted myself off the wagon, barely making a noise as my feet touched the ground. I crept around the wagon and peeked around it, seeing nothing beyond. _Where is everyone?_

I rounded the wagon and stayed low, taking soft, quiet steps as I moved along the side of it. I got to the edge and peeked around it. I saw everyone standing ahead of me, standing on the edge of a hole in the ground. I stood up straight and walked up behind them, ending up next to Alistair and following everyone's gaze.

It was a crater, a smoking hunk of black rock sitting at the bottom. _A meteorite?_ I looked over to Alistair and he looked back, saying, "Just found this a little while ago. A man and woman took a baby out of here and walked away with it. I don't understand how the child survived this…"

I had suppress a laugh. The way he described what happened immediately reminded me of Superman's back-story; being found by a farming couple in a meteorite crater after the destruction of Krypton, his home planet. It was ironic, funny, and really weird.

I heard Lyna mention something about breaking off some of the meteorite and trying to find a blacksmith to shape it into a weapon, but she referred to it as 'star metal'. It looked like the meteorite was about the size of a basketball, but I wasn't sure how much was needed to make weapon out of it.

"Let's just take the whole thing," I said. I saw Alistair and Lyna giving me questioning looks. "I mean, we could have a couple of weapons made out of it, right?"

Alistair looked to Lyna. "He's right. There's more than enough to make a longsword and it doesn't look **too** heavy to carry."

I looked back down at the meteorite. "Looks like it dug into the ground a bit and it looks like the crater itself is about… six or seven feet deep. It's gonna weigh a lot though."

"Alright, we take the star metal with us," Lyna said. "Alistair, you and Jason dig it out and hand it up to Sten. He'll put it on Bodahn's wagon."

Me and Alistair climbed down into the crater, me digging out little steps for myself when I got to the bottom. I turned around and Alistair gave me a quizzical look, glancing at the steps I dug out.

"They're to help me climb out," I explained. After a second, he nodded and turned toward the meteorite. We both crouched and started digging around it, Alistair using his armored hands and me using my sword. I heard Alistair grunt as he hit something while trying to dig under the rock, probably the meteorite itself. "Don't try to dig under it. Dig around it."

He took my advice and I eventually found the bottom of the meteorite. I started to dig out the sides of the little hole I made, making it wider and exposing more of the rock on my side. Alistair must of found the bottom too, because I heard him go, "Ah-ha!" with a note of relief.

I told him to stop digging as I wedged my sword underneath the meteorite, jerking my chin toward it for him to help me roll it out of the hole. I used my sword as a lever, the fulcrum being closer to the rock to give me more leverage. I counted to three and pulled down on my sword as he lifted upward. We managed to get it out three tries later, Alistair holding it in place as I sheathed my sword. We both placed our hands underneath it and lifted at the same time.

It was **heavy**! And it was a bit warm. It was a good thing that we were going to hand it off to Sten, because we definitely weren't getting out of the damn crater while carrying that heavy ass rock.

After a big, 'heave ho!' we half-lifted, half-tossed the thing up to Sten, who struggled with its weight as he stood up and walked away with it. My fingers and arms ached from the exertion of the recent lift as I climbed out of the crater, Alistair following behind me.

I glanced up to the sky and noticed that the sun had moved down from its apex, but not enough for us to camp for the night. "Shit," I complained as I wiped the sweat from my forehead. "Of course we're not done walking yet…" I rolled my neck as Sten rejoined us, a group of cracking sounds as I relieved the tension there. Then we headed down the road, leaving the crater behind.

* * *

_**A/N:**_ In case you're wondering, yes, I am alluding to the Soldier's Peak DLC and I will have Starfang forged. As for the other DLCs, well... you'll all see in good time.


End file.
